There's no place for violence in politics

There’s no place for violence in politics. Upon seeing Donald Trump nearly having his brains blown out on live television, the rallying call crystallized: there’s no place for violence in politics. 

There’s no place for violence in politics. Except in North America where genocidal campaigns that killed tens of millions of people are the only reason why countries exist today.

There’s no place for violence in politics. Except for the violence that was used to build all economic and social systems; maintain white supremacy through forced relocation, forced starvation, slavery. And the men who oversaw these campaigns of death, profiting off of them, parlaying those profits into political power for generations to come. 

There’s no place for violence in politics. Except for the violence of every sexual assault that has happened in the marital bed, on the job and on the desks of these men in power. And the violence of silence from mothers, aunts and grandmothers who looked the other way.

There’s no place for violence in politics. Except for the violence of back-alley abortions. The child abuse that is exacerbated by poverty and desperation. The forcible collapse of strong communities that protect and foster children.

There’s no place for violence in politics. Unless those politics include the military (which they always do).

There’s no place for violence in politics. Except for hundreds of thousands of deaths by toxic drugs, a crisis that has grown as a result of intentional industrial collapse to feed global capitalism through so-called free trade.

There’s no place for violence in politics. Except the violence of writhing in a jail cell that’s so hot, the heat can kill you. Unless one of the agitated cellmates that you have in a space that is only big enough for one person kills you first.

There’s no place for violence in politics directed towards the ones wearing gloves, whose hands don’t touch the levers directly; for the ones who are above the fray; no violence in politics for the ones who play with social supports, turn anger on and off like a faucet to boost their popularity and then feign surprise when someone snaps. 

There’s certainly no place for violence in politics when the one who snaps doesn’t take it out on his wife or his children or his co-workers or worshippers in a church or a mosque or a synagogue or inside of a mall or at the beach or in a park but instead, he climbs to the top of a roof and aims his rifle towards one man who symbolizes the violence inherent in the system.

There can be no violence that takes aim accurately, that seeks to inflict the pain back onto the system.

That kind of violence comes too close to being real. That’s the kind of violence that shouts that the emperor has no clothes. That’s the kind of violence that comes within an ear of blowing off the head of the symbol.

And there’s no place for truth like that in America.